REFUNDS AND APPEALS COMMITTEE
Financial credit or credit on your account:
You can have a credit on your account for any number of reasons: you made an extra payment; you dropped courses you already paid for; you received a scholarship, and so on. Your account statement, which you can view through uoZone, shows your exact uOttawa financial status at the time you view your statement.
Rules governing fees and refunds:
The Board of Governors reserves the right to change its fees and its refund rules without prior notice. Be sure to consult the rules governing tuition and related fees for more information.
NEW REFUND REQUEST:
- To submit your request, go to My finances on uoZone (uozone.uOttawa.ca/) and select "Refund Request / Appeal Committee Request".
BEFORE YOU REQUEST A REFUND... IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
- You must first withdraw from your courses before the deadlines appearing under uOttawa's Sessional Dates.
If you decide not to take the courses you’ve registered for, you have to officially withdraw from these courses before the deadlines appearing under uOttawa's Sessional Dates. If you do not withdraw officially by these deadlines, you forfeit your right to a financial credit on your account.
- Remember that your financial credit is automatically applied to amounts you owe.
If your account is in arrears (that is, you owe money to the University), any credit you receive is applied to that amount owing. You can have any remaining credit refunded to you if you so request.
- Remember that your financial credit is automatically applied to the next session.
Unless you submit a formal refund request, your financial credit is automatically applied to your next registration period at uOttawa. If you keep your credit in your account, no administrative fees apply. You can, however, request to have that credit refunded to you if you don’t owe the University any money. In this case, an administrative charge of $25 is deducted from the amount refunded to you.
- Note the fees involved in refund requests.
If a change in your course selection generates a credit on your account, the credit is automatically applied to your next registration period at uOttawa, unless you make a formal request for a refund; in this case, a $25 administrative charge is deducted from your refund, as set out in the University’s administrative fees schedule. Your course change or cancellation must be recorded in your student file before the deadlines appearing under uOttawa's Sessional Dates. All other refund requests (housing, scholarship, overpayments, etc.) do not involve administrative fees.
- Check the rules for residence fee refunds.
Residence fee refunds are subject to the terms of your residence contract. For instance, dropping courses or withdrawing from the University doesn’t automatically cancel a reservation in residence or an active residence contract. Also, your reservation deposit is non-refundable. For more information on housing, please consult the Housing Services website.
- Note wait times.
Financial Services requires at least ten business days to examine your refund request and issue your refund. In addition, producing the refund cheque takes no more than a week, and mail delivery times depend on the destination. If we expect a longer-than-usual wait time, one of our financial information officers will notify you.
Note, however, that registration periods are especially busy and prolong wait times.
NEW APPEAL REQUEST:
- To submit your request, go to My finances on uoZone (uozone.uOttawa.ca/) and select "Refund Request / Appeal Committee Request".
BEFORE SUBMITTING A REQUEST TO THE APPEALS COMMITTEE... IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
- You must first withdraw from your courses.
Course for which you’re requesting an appeal must have been cancelled in your student file beforehand.
- Note the supporting documents needed with your request.
If you go to the Appeals Committee, your request has to be for exceptional circumstances having prevented you from recording your withdrawal before the deadlines appearing under uOttawa's Sessional Dates. You must provide supporting documents with your request (our Web application lets you submit your supporting documents as attachments). Appeal requests that are submitted without supporting documents are considered incomplete and are automatically rejected.
- Confirm which cases are heard by the Appeals Committee.
-> Physical or mental illness: your health prevents you from attending your classes.
Supporting documents required: Have your health care professional complete the applicable medical certificate (or provide a letter of support from uOttawa’s Counseling and Coaching Service); the certificate includes your name, your absence period and return date, the medical consultation date and the health care professional’s signature.
Note: If you attend a class or classes during the absence period appearing on your medical certificate, you can no longer submit an appeal based on physical or mental illness.
If the authenticity of the medical certificate in is question, the Appeals Committee can require that it be validated by the University of Ottawa’s Health Services.
-> Exceptional life circumstances: A serious issue or situation prevents you from attending classes.
Supporting documents required: You have to provide statements from either your faculty or your professors confirming that you missed classes/courses because of the reasons listed below. For the death of a family member, the University requires a death certificate; the Appeals Committee can ask for more supporting documents if it has doubts about the request.
- Serious unforseeable situation
- Serious family problem
- Death of a close relative (the term "close relative" is limited to the student’s mother, father, foster mother, foster father, sister, brother, spouse, children, mother-in-law and father-in-law)
- Divorce/separation of the student
-> Other situations or circumstances
Supporting documents required: You have to provide an official confirmation of studies or an official transcript from the applicable institution in the following case:
- You’re registered at another institution.
Appeal requests that involve accounts referred to uOttawa’s internal collection office and that are older than two years can be accepted as a way to reduce the student’s debt to the University; however, no refund is issued to the student.
- Confirm which cases are NOT heard by the Appeals Committee.
-> The Committee does not consider cases involving the following:
The Appeals Committee reserves the right to add other motives.
-> Certain cases have to be brought to your faculty:
- Note wait times.
The Committee requires at least 15 business days to examine your appeal request and to inform you of its ruling by email. If the wait time is expected to go beyond 15 business days, a financial information officer will notify you.
The Committee usually meets every two weeks and rules on the appeal the day it’s presented. The decision is relayed to you by email over the course of the week following the meeting. However, the Committee can occasionally decide it needs more information before ruling; in these cases, the decision is made at the next meeting.
Note, however, that registration periods are especially busy and prolong wait times.
- Take note of Appeals Committee members.
The Committee is made up of representatives from Financial Services, the Office of the Registrar, InfoService, undergraduate faculties and the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Quorum requires attendance by five members, including a representative from the Office of the Registrar and one from Financial Services.
The chair does not vote, except to break a tie, but can take part in discussions. If the chair is away, the assistant director takes his or her place or appoints a replacement.
The Committee secretary does not vote and does not take part in discussions; his or her duties are to prepare cases coming before the Committee, to organize meetings and to notify students in writing of the Committee’s decisions.
- Get acquainted with the conditions and the process for appealing a decision/ruling by the Appeals Committee.
If you are not satisfied with the ruling and have new information that might change or affect it, you can submit an appeal to the Appeals Committee. In this case, you need to send a new request to have your file re-examined in the light of the new information and supporting documents you’ve provided.
If no new information comes with the appeal, the request is considered incomplete and is rejected.
If the ruling stays the same and you want to appeal once again, the next level involves the assistant director for student accounts at Financial Services.
The third and final appeal level is the associate vice-president, financial resources.